Items of Interest March 5, 2012 Issue

The Bible as literature gets fresh airing in Arizona

Alia Beard Rau

“Arizona proposes elective Bible course for high schools” The Arizona Republic. January 24, 2012.

Arizona’s public and charter high-school students soon could earn credit for learning about the influence of the Old Testament on art or how biblical references are found throughout literature. A state lawmaker has proposed legislation that would make Arizona the sixth state in the nation to allow school systems to offer a high-school elective course on the Bible. Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas already have laws allowing such classes.

Arizona law doesn’t ban the use of the Bible, or any other religious document, as part of a public-school class curriculum as long as it is for academic purposes and does not involve sectarian ideas or religious devotion. But state Rep. Terri Proud, a Republican from Tucson, Arizona, said teachers and school districts still are often afraid to even discuss religion in their classrooms.

“There is this false perception that separation of church means absolutely no religion in school, that the Bible is not allowed,” Proud said. “That is absolutely not true.”

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